Recent reviews by Spaddobird

Why Squad is great and why you shouldn't buy it

Squad is a tactical teamwork-oriented FPS. Teams of 50 players face off against each-other in epic battles to secure various objectives across a dozen large-scale maps in order to ultimately bleed the enemy team of its tickets. It's a fantastic game to play with friends where communication and coordination is key to outwitting and outplaying your enemies.

Gunplay is great with realistic movement speed, momentum and manageable recoil. Weapon variety is good and the guns feel nice. Time to kill is very low and this leads to some intense and immersive fights. The class system allows every squad member to play an important role and this is where the majority of your gameplay diversity will stem from.

Vehicular combat adds another layer of complexity to this with various classes of vehicle from tanks and IFVs to logistics vehicles and MRAPs able to be utilised by your team. The vehicle's damage models are basic however some armour and modules are modelled. Vehicle combat although enjoyable, often feels inconsistent. This isn't generally an issue however as vehicles tend to spend their time supporting infantry rather than engaging each-other directly.

Graphics are good with high-end systems able to achieve a fairly high level of visual fidelity although the inconsistent lighting across different maps can be extremely frustrating and lead you to adjust your brightness and contrast on some layers. Sound is also a strong point of Squad with realistic battlefield effects and dynamic range to rival other immersive games like Escape From Tarkov. You can deafen yourself and enjoy every minute of it.

UI sucks and so does the buggy server browser which sometimes freezes your queue without you noticing - we make do.

I thoroughly enjoy squad and if you have some friends to play with then I guarantee you will as well. The learning curve appears daunting but this is actually a very approachable game with a good community who are generally willing to help new players learn the ropes.


Sounds great right? So why shouldn't I buy it?
Well, in short, I simply no longer believe that the developer (OWI) is deserving of your support. Recent events have made it clear that OWI is increasingly out of touch with its players. It has been over a year since we've seen any meaningful development progress - unless you count the most recent lighting patch which was in the works for far longer than anticipated, and when rolled out, massively impacted the performance of the game causing the majority of players to lose at least ~20FPS across the board. Nobody even asked for a lighting update and now the game runs poorly for most of us. Still not improved weeks later. It has been over two years since OWI purchased the Australian faction mod and yet as of this review it still appears no closer to implementation? Roadmaps have gone completely out the window and at this point it's a running joke that the next update is "only a few weeks away".

On top of the completely stagnant development progress, the insistence of OWI to uphold their code of conduct in community servers and make Squad a politically correct and all-inclusive experience has actually had an extremely negative impact on the playerbase and server population in general. OWI staff actively patrol servers to ascertain whether the admins are strictly upholding their COC to the letter, if they deem the moderation to be insufficient then the server's licence will be revoked and the server shut down. This sounds good in principle but in practice, players of FPS video games are some of the least politically correct people around - shocking, I know!

The result is over-zealous admins handing out lengthy ban periods for small infringements for fear of their server being shut down. If OWI staff don't see this behaviour from admins then they'll revoke the server licence and at this point in the Australia region we currently have ONE server left to play on so a ban from that server effectively results in a ban from Squad. I haven't personally suffered from this but a few of my friends have and various servers we once played on have been shut down because of this practice. What was supposed to make Squad a fun and safe experience for players has actually lead to blatant over-moderation of servers and players receiving lengthy ban periods for highschool-tier insults.

Ultimately it is up to you whether you decide to purchase Squad, it's an extremely enjoyable game especially if you have a group of friends to play with but as for the dev, I just don't think it's reasonable to support them considering the level of incompetence we've seen over the past few years.

A fantastic game with campaigns for Aliens, Predators and the Colonial Marines. The single player is fun but the multiplayer really is where it's at. Surprisingly well balanced between classes (Predator and Marine closely matched, Aliens slightly on the weak side). Nobody plays online multiplayer so if you're going to buy it I recommend roping your friends into it as well. I play this with a group of 4 - 8 friends and it's the most fun you'll ever have for 3 dollars. We like it so much we've even all bought the DLC this sale and looking forward to the new maps. Highly recommend this game, doesn't feel aged at all, very sad to see the online matchmaking stale like it is.

TLDR
Fantastically in-depth car construction and tuning (I believe it to be the most advanced of its kind on Steam). Well thought out survival aspects and generally usable (a little clunky at times) controls. Rough around the edges with average graphics and sound but well optimised and brimming with good humour and interwoven themes of youth. You will love this game if you like cars and/or survival games. The asking price is steep for an early access game, but this is truly a gem worth exploring.

My Summer Car – A Journey through the Finnish Summer
My Summer Car is a special game because it bridges the gap between automotive and life simulation. In my opinion, it is the most detailed car construction simulator available on Steam today. There is more to the car construction aspect of this game alone than that of studio Red Dot’s Car Mechanic Simulator series. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re reading this then you’ve probably already played or investigated CMS and you will enjoy both games, but there’s so much more that My Summer Car has to offer and I’ll discuss where the two differ later in this review.

This game was wholly developed by two people and as a result it belongs well and truly in the ‘indie’ category. This is a category that we associate with bugs, poor optimisation and generally rough-around-the-edges gameplay. Surprisingly, My Summer Car is not heavily impacted by these drawbacks. It runs perfectly (even on low spec rigs), never crashes and takes up less than a gigabyte of storage. The movement and object interaction does feel clunky at times and this will cause you some difficulty, particularly when assembling the car but as anyone who has worked on a real car knows, difficulty is part of the experience. Graphically it isn’t fantastic and I can’t speak for the sound design either however these setbacks do not detract from the gameplay and extra attention has been given to important areas like the vehicle interiors and interactive objects.

My Summer Car really shines in its gameplay, which is incredibly well thought-out and filled with hidden detail. After a quick and humorous introduction, you wake up in your home with a note left from your parents on the fridge stating that they will be away for the summer. You are left to fend for yourself and this mainly involves doing odd jobs (Waste collection, Firewood delivery and many more) in order to make money to buy food as well as fuel and parts for the car. As with every aspect of this game, these jobs are never explained clearly (this is intentional) but they are very intuitive and perseverance always pays off. The objective of the game is to build the Satsuma (based on the Datsun Cherry), which lies in hundreds of pieces in your parent’s garage at the beginning of the game and then use it to win the weekend rally. It is currently the only buildable car in the game and it is extensively buildable; you will need to replace all worn components as well as buying oil, coolant, a new battery and other assorted necessities. The car assembly in MSC functions slightly differently to that of CMS, there is no inventory and every component (other than bolts) is represented as an in-game object which you need to pick up and lift into place. The objects snap together and then bolts can be tightened. This makes the building far less straightforward because there is no indicator as to whether you are assembling things in the right order other than whether it snaps into place or not. Some people may find this frustrating, knowledge of car internals and basic engine tuning will help you in this game substantially but a complete lack of knowledge will make things difficult (there are guides out there which will tell you how to succeed in this game, but using them subtracts from the experience in my opinion). After assembling the car it must be tuned by adjusting the cam timing, ignition timing, valve clearances and carburettor (of which there are a few to choose from). Already having experience in engine tuning, I found this part to be incredibly enjoyable but I do suspect the majority of people who play the game used a guide for this part. There are things that you can do when assembling and tuning the car that will cause catastrophic failures and even your own death in some cases but this is all part of the game (permanent death is also optional). I like to think of it as ‘Car Mechanic Simulator: Dark Souls Edition’. You will put a lot of time and effort into building the car and it will frustrate and sometimes bewilder you but when it finally runs and you go for a spin on the dirt roads in the car that you built and tuned, there is truly nothing sweeter (honourable mention to the driving physics, they’re not great but they’re not bad either and MSC does have wheel and controller support).

Developer ToplessGun’s greatest achievement is perhaps his ability to reproduce genuine feelings in his game. The feeling of accomplishment when you first run the Satsuma, the bitter unfairness of receiving a speeding fine or the sweet payout after a difficult day’s work are all present in My Summer Car and you can tell that the dev has drawn on his own experiences growing up in Finland when constructing his game. In this way, My Summer Car represents so much more than just an automotive simulation game, this game tells a story indirectly (fitting, for a game already so much like Dark Souls) and that is something which I never anticipated before playing it.

My Summer Car sports a high price tag for an early access game and that put me off for a long time but my only regret after making this purchase is that I hadn’t done so sooner. A simulator that appears basic on the surface but is in fact brimming with hidden detail. The dev, ToplessGun has (and continues to) put a colossal amount of effort into crafting a game that goes far beyond just building a car. Sometimes what makes a game good isn’t its graphics or music or smooth gameplay, sometimes the most important thing about a game is how it makes you feel. My Summer Car takes you on a youthful journey through the Finnish summer which is as frustrating at times as it is satisfying at others. Absolutely worth the 20USD price tag, one of my favourite games of all time.

Summary
Visuals - 5/10 – The visuals are adequate, the low quality does not detract from the gameplay.
Sound - 7/10 - Decent sound, it would be nice to hear some more realistic engine sounds in this game.
Optimisation - 10/10 – This game will run on just about anything and utilises less than 1GB hard drive space. Perfect for those on a super low budget or without reliable internet access.
Action - 9/10 – A range of activities to take part in that feel clunky at first but it all makes sense once you get a feel for it. Car building more detailed than the Car Mechanic series.
Characters - 5/10 – A few basic yet amusing characters, not what you’re here for though.
Story - 8/10 – A heart-warming story which is told in a similar way to that of the Dark Souls series.

The great tragedy of this game is that it targets rather a specific audience and there’s really so much more to it than meets the eye. I’d urge anyone interested in survival/car/indie games to give it a go.

A fantastic game that suffered a rough launch. The devs have worked hard and communicated with the community to make this game what it is today. Some of the most fun you can have in a PvP fighting game. Intuitive combat system which is easy to learn and difficult to master.

The Good:
- Stunning graphics
- Intense and fun combat
- Wide range of diverse heroes to choose from
- Especially fun with friends!
- Good controller support especially now with controls customisation (the default layout is not competitive)
- Plenty of meme potential (visit the subreddit)

The Okay:
- Performance is nasty, constantly being improved but I still wouldn't recommend any card below Nvidia 660 series
- Only half the game modes are significantly populated, especially if you live in a region other than US (the game is not region locked but matchmaker does not match you with overseas players)
- Decent character customisation, nothing fantastic but no complaints.
- Lacklustre story mode, but that's not what you really buy this game for.

The Bad:
- Massive skill gap across all levels of play. It took me around 350 hours to get to a point where I could compete with all opponents. There are still a few players who are untouchable to me but I can now handle the majority.
- Matchmaker is trash in low population regions. I often fight reputation 0 (completely new) players who are no match for me. Likewise I am sometimes matched with rep 100+ who destroy me.

Overall this is a very good game, plenty of fun to be had. The main issue is the learning curve and skill gap which really isn't something that can be fixed until the game's population grows. If you are considering getting into this keep in mind that you'll need to spend a lot of time learning before you can play with the big boys and have a chance of winning.

Edit 11/2018: Game is still decent and the devs are working hard on it but I'm not entirely happy with the direction they have taken to make many of the older characters viable. Still recommended overall but I fear for the future of this game because the way in which characters are being designed is not new player friendly...

TLDR
This is probably one of the most underappreciated open world RPGs on the Steam store. It isn't a perfect game by any means, but if you're into cars, the Mad Max movies and Aussie accents, you'll definitely be able to recognise what it does well and have an awesome time. It's sort of like Just Cause 2 meets Tomb Raider meets Red Dead Redemption. Definitely worth the price tag whenever it is on special. No multiplayer.

Mad Max - A Forgotten Gem
I had Mad Max on my wishlist for a while, I'd always been a fan of the movies, however, knowing what movie games are usually like (rushed, lacking content, little story), I knew I would never pay full price for this game. Eventually it came on sale for a meagre $6 which was a price I couldn't pass up, and boy, was I pleasantly surprised (maybe shocked is a better word) at the game I received.

The game opens with a pretty standard sort of cinematic cut scene, nothing unexpected here, max loses his car to some marauders and basically ends up thrown in a ditch. At this point, you take control of Max. You'll notice that, strangely enough... it seems as if the game actually looks graphically better than the cut scene before it... you guide him through to an open area where you overlook the wasteland and at this point, being a bit of a graphics wh*re, I stopped in my tracks and just panned the camera for a few minutes - This is something that you will do often in Mad Max. This game is graphically... absolutely stunning. The wasteland is dusty and desolate with fragments of the old world dispersed throughout. The heat distortion and detail on the cars is truly something to behold and that's before I get to the explosions which are some of the best I have ever seen in a game. I'd say the beauty in this game is probably what allowed me to play it for such a long time after the main story was over.

You soon meet your mechanic, Chum, who rather religiously tends to your main car in the game, his 'Magnum Opus'. The Opus is fully customisable and there are a plethora of performance mods and weapons to unlock here using the in-game currency, scrap - which can be conveniently found just about everywhere. There are other cars in the game however none of them allow Chum to ride along and you will quickly realise that his repair skill and manning of an air-propelled harpoon gun are somewhat invaluable. I was not a fan of this because it really does deter you from using the other cars in the game, of which there are quite a few. I'd also like to mention that fuel conservation is basically not a thing, fuel and water are commodities which you will almost never run short of and I don't feel this is appropriate considering the apparent shortages in the lore and movies. Nevertheless, the car combat is another strong point in this game, it is well thought out and relatively consistent. Very enjoyable despite the somewhat average driving physics. I'm a car guy and the physics didn't put me off but this is by no means a driving sim, far from it.

You will spend the majority of your time clearing out camps of Warboys and establishing stability in the four main regions. The combat on foot is mostly melee oriented, the only guns in this game are your shotgun (which you will not use much) and a handful of snipers (which aren't much of an issue once you figure out that Chum's harpoon gun can pluck them from their nests with ease). The hand to hand combat is very intense and absolutely brutal. It's very satisfying despite its repetitive nature. The enemies unfortunately are not very varied and if you go through the game expecting combat to change you will be disappointed. Eventually you will come to the conclusion that it is easier to just drive around camps spamming (you guessed it) Chum's harpoon gun, which is a one hit kill for all enemies. Later in the game it even gets a grenade attachment which when fully upgraded, one-hits any vehicle you will encounter as well. As a result, combat in this game both on-foot and in-car is as difficult as you want it to be. You could just not use the harpoon and then it would be quite challenging however it is just so fast and easy to use the harpoon that the temptation is real.

I suppose it's time for me to get to the story and characters... this is... not this game's strong point. I can remember maybe... three of the characters in this game? They are all so weak and despite decent Aussie voice acting you will find yourself glossing over most of what they say. You don't really care about any of the characters because they are never developed so when they kill off a few it's a bit like... eh whatever... The story is linear and pretty simple. You help out a settlement, they help you get to the next place, you help them out, they help you get to the next place, some stuff happens, the game ends. Preston Garvey would be proud but it has very little replay ability that's for sure. If this game had multiplayer, it would be very much like Red Dead Redemption. There isn't multiplayer though and I don't really think it would work too well anyway because of the way combat in it is structured.

To end on a good note, the map is colossal and intelligently designed. You really get a sense of scale when you're driving through it. It is a masterfully created wasteland and because of the vehicular aspect, it is appropriately massive unlike in the Fallout universe. Fragments of the old world, each of them unique litter it and there is always another location to check out, clear out, and loot. It would be boring driving the considerable distances from place to place if not for the random Warboy encounters and beautiful visuals. Every single camp, big or small is uniquely designed which makes it interesting to investigate the sometimes extremely creative (and sometimes grotesque) designs. There are not a whole lot of different things to do in the world however you'll always be in a different place with a different feel while doing them.

Summary
Visuals - 10/10 - Absurd attention to detail, beautiful explosions and world-building.
Sound - 7/10 - Decent sound, a few bugs, nothing special.
Optimisation - 8/10 - Runs really well, GTX 660 has no issues with "Very High" @1080p. Large 32GB file size.
Action - 8/10 - Intense and gritty punch-ups, masterful car combat. Repetitive.
Characters - 2/10 - Weak and barely memorable characters. Max's comments are as numerous as they are grim.
Story - 2/10 - Simple and uninteresting no-choices story line. Very little replay-ability.

Overall a game for a certain kind of person, although I think when it goes on sale for $6 anyone could justify this purchase.

Step 1) Buy for $1.49 from PUBG cases.
Step 2) Pet Nekos.
Step 3) Recieve $1.69 worth of trading cards. (profit)

Concusion: The art is beautiful, the story, nonexistent. More innuendo than an episode of Dirty Jobs. If you don't care what your parents think of you, and don't mind broadcasting to your entire steam friends list that you have serious issues, then there is absolutely no reason to not buy this game.

Updated (2022)
Progression is now so slow that the game is simply not worth the time investment, even if you ignore the obvious balance issues and lack of any meaningful gameplay development over a literal decade. Bravo Gaijin, the journey has been horrible.

Updated (2019)
I cannot express how utterly disappointed I am in the direction that this game has taken. Between the devs doing away with any concern for balance or enjoyable gameplay and the power creep that cripples high tier gameplay in all modes, I can no longer recommend this game. This was my favourite game which I played diligently each day for years, and in its early days it was truly a masterpiece within its genre, now however the thought of it just makes me sad. I treasure the great memories and the people I've met through War Thunder but the game I loved is gone now.

Original (2016)
I've played War Thunder for longer than I've played any other game. I don't play it nearly as much as I used to but every now and then I still enjoy taking my Spitfire out for a thrash or bringing my Tiger tank into the fray to bust a few T-34s. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as good as it used to be; every update seems to make things worse and the developer's decisions often seem to defy all logic and reason. Despite that, I believe there is still a lot of good fun to be had in this game, especially with friends!

Gameplay 7/10
You'll get a lot more out of War Thunder if you have an interest in WWII - Korean war era planes, tanks, and soon, ships but just about anyone with an interest in action games can play it. There are two main game modes, 'Arcade Battles' (unrealistic physics and matches but still plenty of fun) and 'Realistic Battles' (Realistic physics, less forgiving damage models but still non-historical matches. By non-historical matches I mean sometimes the US side will fight the British side, sometimes Germany will decide to team up with Russia, that sort of thing. There are also simulation events which force 1st person, remove gameplay assists and force matches to include historically accurate vehicles and locations.

There's something for everybody here and when a good matchup occurs this can be one of the most enjoyable games out there. The planes and tanks handle very realistically (each has its own unique flight/damage model) in the latter two game modes and are easy and fun to control in Arcade Battles. Unfortunately, the match maker (or rather, the developers) have trouble separating vehicles of different capabilities and often you'll get unbalanced matches.

Content 9/10
It’s hard to fault War Thunder on its content, hundreds of accurately modelled aircraft and tanks from five nations. The devs are always adding new and interesting vehicles and sometimes they’ll even add one for the community if they ask nicely on the official forum!

There is a plane or tank to suit anybody’s personality in this game, it may take you a while to find and unlock it though!

My only complaint would be that the match maker seems far more biased to certain maps and so you’ll get very familiar with a select few depending on what you pilot.

Graphics and Sound 9/10
This is perhaps the only part of War Thunder that has seen constant improvement since day one. Everything looks and sounds... simply gorgeous. The developers really know how to bring the vehicles to life. Some of the locations can be a little bland but this is WWII era Europe I guess. It’s relatively easy to run War Thunder, you don’t need a gaming monster to max it out however desktop crashes aren’t unheard of.

UI and Progression 4/10
The UI is generally quite good and easy to work quickly with minimal stuff-ups. It always has been, and it has never really been changed that much. Recently however, they moved the friends list/battle report/chat buttons from the top right (where they had always been) to the bottom right of the screen which was a completely unnecessary and stupid change. Do you want to know why? Because the Steam overlay popups now cover up those vital buttons! How can they possibly have overlooked that?! I mean if the game is going to have Steam support then you’d think that they would at least have some consideration for people using Steam. Oh well, that’s the sort of thing Gaijin does pretty often so I’m used to it now.

War Thunder is a free to play which means that the devs need to make progression a little slow to give you incentive to buy experience boosters or premium accounts. This was to be expected right? Well, unfortunately Gaijin have taken this concept to the absolute extreme. Progressing beyond mid-tier aircraft in this game is almost impossible without a premium account (200% XP each game), for normal people at least. It’s much worse for tanks though, there isn’t really any point in trying to progress in tanks unless you’re willing to sink a few dollars into this game. There are plenty of high XP yielding vehicles available in the store and often premium accounts go on special. It is at least playable with either or both.

This game is not pay to play at all however, which I think is commendable. Money will only have you progress faster, it doesn’t give you any in-battle advantages over other players.

Overall/TLDR 8/10

War Thunder may have its problems, it’s *numerous* problems and a dev team who either don’t understand those problems or simply don’t care but unlike what many people will tell you, there IS still fun to be had in this game. The low tier aircraft and tanks are just as enjoyable as the high tier ones and I feel like a lot of people burn out in War Thunder trying to progress. If you play this game with the intention of having fun and don’t get caught up in the grind then you’ll absolutely enjoy it enough to justify the moderate download.

At first glance, ARK: Survival Evolved is the game we all dreamed of playing when we were kids. A desert island all to ourselves (and our friends), caves to explore, dinosaurs, big bad bosses to defeat, all wrapped up with a plethora of features, an extensive crafting system and stunning next-gen graphics. How could anybody possibly not recommend it you ask? Well, just give me a few minutes to explain why my time on 'The Island' was one of the most bitter-sweet experiences of my gaming career.

Firstly, those next-gen graphics I mentioned before? If you have anything less than a $1500+ gaming rig you can forget about playing in 1080p with even medium-level settings and you out there still chugging along with last generation's tech probably won't be able to play ARK at all. This game's optimization is comparable to a train wreck... with lots of fire... and possibly more than one train. Loading is slow whether you've got an SSD or not and the game will stress every part of your PC to its limits (and sometimes further). If you are one of those folks who has two GTX 980's and an intel i7 (as well as a hefty amount of RAM) then you will be able to enjoy ARK maxed out in which case, it can be one of the most beautiful games on sale for less than $30. The rest of us are left with a stuttery, average-looking beast of a game. If you've got the hardware to run ARK reliably then you at least have the key to open the door. What's on the other side of the door can be as fantastically enjoyable as it is monumentally frustrating.

You spawn into the island with nothing and must slowly grind your way up the levels in order to gather better resources to craft better gear, nothing out of the ordinary here. Your gear and tamed wildlife can still be looted and killed even when you are not online so logging out doesn't mean that you're safe. The crafting system is extensive with multiple tiers of equipment from stone to metal to more complex items. Gathering resources on official servers is slow, as is leveling. Casual players will struggle considerably to progress, especially on PvP servers where there is nothing to stop the big boys and their Tyrannosauruses from smashing down the wooden cabin (which you spent 5 hours building up) in a matter of moments. Spending countless hours to achieve something and then losing it in mere minutes is a recurring theme in this game.

A large part of the issue is that the gap between casual and serious players is enormous. The dinosaurs (which are essentially vehicles with an attack key) have a leveling system which allows players with a large amount of spare time to tame and make incredibly strong. The tame-able creatures in the game basically dictate how quickly players can gather resources. The fact that casual player's dinos don't have a chance against the big boys mean that those of us who can't devote 8 hours each day to video games will be hard-pressed making ends meet on PvP servers.

Official PvE servers are mostly filled with players spamming small structures around the map to prevent others from building anywhere (ARK has a FANTASTIC player base) so the only way to really enjoy playing with others is to join or host a private server. Single player is an option but ARK really is a multiplayer game, there isn't any story to speak of and the only real objective to accomplish is the collection of artifacts around the map which allow you to summon and defeat a couple bosses.

Ultimately the value of ARK as a game lies in the eye of the beholder. If you have the monstrous gaming rig required to run it then you probably do have that necessary 8 hours each day to hold your own in a PvP server. The vast majority of people though, will have a tough time in ARK and it really does look and play terribly if your PC isn't up to spec. Even though there really are a lot of good times to be had in this game, what reward there is simply isn't worth the frustration that comes along with it. For that reason, until the (very active) developers finish their game, I can't recommend ARK: Survival Evolved.